The present invention relates to systems and methods for updating elements associated with web content. More particularly, the present invention relates to selective partial updates of web content.
Web pages include a variety of elements. Some of the elements represent content that is static with respect to a web page, such as titles, logos, and other content that does not change over time. Other elements may change over time. For example, stock quotes and sports scores may change over time and may change during a period of interest for a viewer of a given web page. Periodically, an application server responsible for the content generates a new web page with all changed content and forwards the changed content along with the static content for updating within the viewer's browser. The update period is selected by the application server based upon configuration options for the server. The viewer may request a refresh of the entire web page by manually selecting a series of menu options within the browser. The browser will then initiate a download of the entire web page and re-present the entire web page to the viewer.